Cloud computing and cloud storage are techniques that have become increasingly common in the industry. Cloud storage is a model of networked online storage where data is stored on multiple virtualized storage systems rather than being hosted on dedicated systems. Optionally, physical and/or virtual storage resources (or parts thereof) can be hosted by third parties.
Physical storage resources can span across multiple systems, while cloud storage enables presenting to a user a logical space for data storage and itself handles the process of mapping the logical space to the actual physical location.
Problems of cloud storage have been recognized in the contemporary art and various systems have been developed to provide a solution, for example:
US Patent Application No. 2010/199042 (Bates et al.) discloses a multi-cloud data replication method which includes providing a data replication cluster comprising at least a first host node and at least a first online storage cloud. The first host node is connected to the first online storage cloud via a network and comprises a server, a cloud array application and a local cache. The local cache comprises a buffer and a first storage volume comprising data cached in one or more buffer blocks of the local cache's buffer. The method further comprises requesting authorization to perform cache flush of the cached first storage volume data to the first online storage cloud; upon receiving approval of the authorization, encrypting the cached first storage volume data in each of the one or more buffer blocks with a data private key; assigning metadata comprising at lest a unique identifier to each of the one or more buffer blocks and then encrypting the metadata with a metadata private key; transmitting the one or more buffer blocks with the encrypted first storage volume data to the first online cloud storage; creating a sequence of updates of the metadata, encrypting the sequence with the metadata private key and then transmitting the sequence of metadata updates to the first online storage cloud.
US Patent Application No. 2010/306174 (Otani) discloses methods and apparatuses for block-based storage subsystem with backup ability to a file-based storage service such as HTTP or cloud storage service. In one embodiment, a storage system is coupled via a network to a storage service that has one or more file servers. The storage system comprises a processor; a memory; a volume-based snapshot control module configured to create a snapshot volume of data at a certain time, the snapshot volume being a block-based volume which is divided into a plurality of portions; and a copy control module configured to read each portion of the snapshot volume and send each portion as file data to the storage service via the network, and to generate mapping information between an address of each portion in the storage system and a file identifier of the file data of each portion in the storage service.
US Patent Application No. 2010/274982 (Mehr et al.) discloses a system and a method that facilitate integration of a distributed backup environment and online backup environment. A super peer device can be designated from a set of peer devices. The super peer can distribute backup data amongst the set of peer devices based upon availability and storage capacity of the peer devices. In addition, the super peer can transfer portions of backup data from the set of peers to an online backup service.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,636,764 (Fein et al.) discloses methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for data forwarding storage. A network includes a group of interconnected computer system nodes, the group including at least one central server, wherein the at least one central server communicates with a cloud resource and controls support of the group of nodes using the cloud resource; and each node of the group of interconnected computer system nodes receives data and continuously forwards the data from node memory to node memory without storing on any physical storage device.
US Patent application No. 2003/051021 (Hirschfeld et al.) discloses a virtualized logical server cloud that enables logical servers to exist independent of physical servers that instantiate the logical servers. Servers are treated as logical resources in order to create a logical server cloud. The logical attributes of a logical server are non-deterministically allocated to physical resources creating a cloud of logical servers over the physical servers. Logical separation is facilitated by the addition of a server cloud manager, which is an automated multi-server management layer. Each logical server has persistent attributes that establish its identity. Each physical server includes or is coupled to physical resources including a network resource, a data storage resource and a processor resource. At least one physical server executes virtualization software that virtualizes physical resources for logical servers. The server cloud manager maintains status and instance information for the logical servers including persistent and non-persistent attributes that link each logical server with a physical server.
International Application No. WO/06045847 (Edwards et al.) discloses a system having a virtual overlay infrastructure mapped onto physical resources for processing, storage and network communications, the virtual infrastructure having virtual entities for processing, storage and network communications. Virtual infrastructures of different users share physical resources but are isolated and have their own management entities. An interface between infrastructures allows controlled relaxation of the isolation, using a gateway between virtual nets, or shared virtual storage devices. This can allow businesses to share data or applications, while maintaining control of security.